Glory Blue of Days Anew
by onesinglesecond
Summary: Kasamatsu moves away from everything he knew his entire life. In this time of unfamiliarity, he clings to the one thing that was and will always be a constant: basketball. Will he be able to adapt successfully in this new foreign world and keep connections to his past?
1. Chapter 1

AN: In order for this "AU" to work, I tweaked a few things: Kasamatsu, Kobori and Moriyama are second years, Hayakawa and Kise are first years, and Kasamatsu was the captain until after the interhigh, in which his family moves to North America in time for school to start in September. (School starts in April in Japan.) A fair bit of swearing (come on, they're teen boys). Pairing is kikasa because I'm such a sucker for them. Romance will be slow build.

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 _The people I could potentially pass to were guarded as closely as the one guarding me. Nobody could break free. As expected from a school priding itself on defense._

 _A quick glance and I saw the bent knees, wide arms, and the weight slightly on his toes, subtly revealing my defender's admirable agility and sturdiness - but most of all, defense._

 _I faked a left pass and attempted a drive to my right. Before I could dribble, I could see that the defense wasn't fooled. Yet…_

 _Transferring the weight up from my attempted right drive, I faked a shot, causing the player to go back into position. He was prepared to jump but also prepared for another drive just in case I tried again. My eyes followed his movements and observed his center of mass, going right to center, the momentum creating difficulty to return right. At this, I quickly drove to my right. The guy on defense was quick and agile, but I was faster and his momentary hesitation aided me._

 _One bounce, two bounces, three._

 _I sensed my defender had recovered and he was closing in on me. Instinctively, I crossed over smoothly to go in for a left handed layup, the clock's time and close score flashing in my mind._

 _I could feel the ball leaving my hands; unrushed and natural as it gently floated out. The crowd's cheers rang along with the roaring blood in my ears, blurring in with the squeaking of shoes on the court. My heart pounded._

 _The ball went up and—_

Kasamatsu jolted forwards, chin slipping from the heel of his palm as the bus bumped along something on the road, waking him from his doze. The teen could still feel his heart pounding as the sudden urge to play basketball spiked through his body, the chances of it subsiding slim.

Not that he minded or that he wasn't used to it. What he did mind was the sudden stream of air that flowed into the bus, chilling his body. He clenched his teeth, shivering and hugged himself tightly, unused to the coldness of the north country, Canada - even if it was currently barely autumn.

Speaking of which, the concept of starting school in September without school uniforms was quite foreign to him.

Glancing around the bouncing bus dazedly, he briefly wondered at the t-shirt and shorts cladded students. Either it was him, or they didn't notice the cold.

Should've worn something more than a cardigan, t-shirt and shorts. He cursed his foolish choice at attempting to fit in. The seventeen year old reached down and pulled both of his trademark black knee socks higher before putting on headphones, selecting a random playlist on his phone. He rested his head back against his seat, determined to at least doze off again.

Back in Japan, Kasamatsu had no intention of socializing beyond what was necessary. Not that his friends had a hard time hanging around with him. He just didn't see the point in pretending to like someone. He was fine with it and with staying like that. It was also quite peculiar and amusing that he was more popular than Moriyama (not like that's an achievement worth boasting about) without having an interest in trying.

So he really wasn't to blame when he ignored a tapping on his shoulder, pretending to have fallen asleep. He wasn't that far behind, but the tapping persisted. The momentary grogginess before snapping back awake was what he blamed his next words he snarled without thinking in Japanese at the source of growing irritation.

"Oi! Cut the shit out, Moriyama, not now!" He leveled piercing steel-blue eyes to Moriyama.

Except it wasn't Moriyama, this wasn't the locker room after practice where he was quickly losing his control over kicking his friend's ass into next week if he mentions anything remotely related to girls, and there was no Hayakawa screaming incoherently in the distance at a random locker over who knows what, and his only source of comfort, Kobori, wasn't there to try and calm him down, and Kise wasn't whining about how Kasamatsu was too harsh on him at practice, and oh Kami he needs to stop this, stop thinking about his team and Kise, stop this sudden onslaught of emotions, force back the tears, swallow against the lump in his throat, lick his dry lips, and try to say something - force something out of his dry mouth.

He wasn't prepared for this, wasn't prepared at all for what he thought was a pathetically vulnerable moment. What happened has happened and there was nothing he could do about something that wasn't in his control. So he shoved it all to the back of his mind to deal with later and instead turned to the present problem.

"Ah sumimasen, I thought you were-ano, I didn't mean to—" Kasamatsu inwardly kicked himself at his overlapping of Japanese and his English, more heavily accented than usual.

"Oh, that's alright, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else. Sorry." the person said easily, and turned back to talking with the girl next to him. Kasamatsu tensed, hearing the stifled giggle and whispers from the girl. He willed the heat to not break out on his cheeks and went back to staring at the back of the seat in front of him.

The onslaught of feelings suddenly threatened to stir up again and he settled for tightly gripping his unfamiliar western-styled backpack and his gym bag, straightened his back, squared his shoulders and tightened his jaws. His stomach curled in anticipation when the bus turned and a new emotion pushed away everything else on his mind but the thought of the present matter.

He could see his new high school coming into view.

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AN: I moved around a lot, staying in schools for two years maximum. It was both sad and fun to me at the same time: friends I made wouldn't be friends for long, but I had a lot of time and chances to develop and experience with how I want to express myself. And c'mon, you gotta admit, there's this strange appeal to being the new student. So I came up with this idea, what if Kasa not only moved and switched schools but he also moved countries? And so this was born. If thinking about my favourite characters put into situations isn't enough, I'll write it.

Sorry for the long AN, the next couple of chapters will have more fic and less me blabbing. Also, yes it's Canada not US because why not? Everyone always uses US. Also, you readers would feel more like Kasa as well because you wouldn't know much about Canada either? Unless you live in Canada lol.

Until next time~ =(^. .^)=


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: Hey now, never said that I was from Canada, Hanamiicchi, or am I? ;) Lol you'll never know.**_

 _ **Er. I know. This is a long time between updates. Please go to my profile for the full explanation.**_

 _ **Here's the short one: I'm in a rigorous academic program so time is limited. I have legitimate procrastination problems. I'm a glutton for punishment and tend to feel irrationally guilty. All these things added up make it hard for me to start and finish personal projects. Which is why I don't start them in the first place.**_

 _ **But I've started this one haven't I? That's why no matter what, I'm determined to finish it. Anyways.**_

 _ **Sorry for the rant, go on and enjoy this chappie! It's extra long (I hope) to make up for the extra long time.**_

 _ **Also, this chappie is un-betaed, so any mistakes are mine.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: If I owned KnB, Kaijo wouldn't have lost (however selfish that is)**_

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Kasamatsu was angry.

To anyone who have heard of Kasamatsu back in Japan in the basketball community or his high school, they may have heard of him from his captaincy skill, from his close friendship with Kise, or even his lack of speech around the female population. But one thing that trumped all those qualities of his reputation, was his temper.

To his teammates, an angry Kasamatsu was a normal one. Having met before high school, Moriyama and Kobori wouldn't even think about it twice; they just know. Nobody knows Hayakawa's opinion; it is rather difficult to decipher screams. To Kise, it meant that he had to make sure he doesn't do anything idiotic. In theory, that is, but Kise's and Kasamatsu's opinion differ greatly.

So Kasamatsu didn't just simply enter his homeroom classroom. He knew that it was likely that he was going to get lost, but he never expected having no choice but to ask a gaggle of girls for directions. Nor did he expect someone to push him at the same time that he tripped up the stairs and ram his forehead what would've been someone's back, except their height difference made it their behind.

With a damaged ego, destroyed confidence, and throbbing forehead, Kasamatsu violently slammed open his homeroom door and fiercely stomped his way over to the first empty desk he saw with a scowl on his face.

The teacher stopped mid-sentence on whatever he was saying. Everyone turned to glance at him and the raven haired teen self-consciously sank down in his seat at the unwanted attention. The teacher looked at him expectantly.

"Gomena—sorry. " He forced himself to calm down. "I-ah, ah—lost." The class giggled as the word he was searching for finally popped into his head.

The teen suddenly found the floor very interesting, staring at it as if it would open up and swallow him whole out of this situation. He jerked his head up as he realized the teacher was trying to get his attention.

"And you are…?" the woman inquired. "Yukio Kasamatsu?"

Kasamatsu nodded nervously, eyes darting nervously around the class. There weren't many boys in the class. It was then that he realized the person sitting next to him was a female. His red face grew darker and he tried not to react too noticeably and resisted the urge to move his chair as far away as possible from the one beside him.

"Welcome to English class, Yukio." the teacher smiled kindly at him. She walked over to her desk and took a piece of paper. "Here are the expectations for this course."

Fucking English class just had to be my homeroom. Kasamatsu cursed inwardly. Thankfully the teacher started talking again, drawing the class's attention away from the moment, away from him.

Paying attention was hard, especially since he could hardly understand half of what the teacher was saying. Deciding that his time was better spent elsewhere, he swept his blue-gray eyes around the classroom, taking note of the foreign environment.

The teacher's voice droned into the background as he observed the unfamiliar ways people dressed, looked and behaved.

"—like to start for us, Daisy?" Kasamatsu was brought out of his daze when the girl beside him - the one named Daisy - started talking.

"My name is Daisy and some of my interests are reading and shopping. I play volleyball and uh, yeah. I choose Lizzy to go next."

The blonde girl shot a glare at the brunette beside him. "My name is Lizzy, and I like to eat, sleep and do nothing." Many people chuckled at that. "My favourite food is cheese and meat pies and the caf cookies. Uh, Dani, you go next."

Kasamatsu tried, he really did try, but he couldn't keep up with the introductions of the students. His former English teacher understandably didn't talk this fast. There were an abundance of words he couldn't comprehend, and the ones that he knew were spoken so casually and quickly that he might as well not know them in the first place. Instead, he started planning his own inevitable introduction in his mind, keeping his ears tuned for his name.

His name didn't come up.

I should have known. The teen wasn't sure he was relieved or offended.

"Alright, who hasn't gone yet?" All eyes went to him. Kasamatsu inwardly groaned. "Yukio?"

Kasamatsu stood up, startling the girl next to him. "Hai! Eh... I am Kasam-ano, Yukio Kasamatsu. I like to play basketball and go shopping. Please forgive my English, I move from Japan. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu*!" He gave a bow and sat down again.

The room was awkwardly silent before the class broke into nervous coughs and laughs. The teacher looked surprised. Steel-blue eyes widened at the realization of what he just did. The action was instinctive and there was no second thought until now. Kasamatsu realized that he was too busy with thinking about his own introduction that he didn't notice that nobody stood up during their small introductions.

Feeling like his face was on fire, he stuttered. "In J-Japan it's, ah, common tra-tradition to be, to be, uh, polite to others." It was the best he could do on the fly. Really, how was he supposed to explain cultural differences?

"That's very interesting, Yukio." The teacher didn't look like she was mocking him. "In fact, if I recall correctly, the Japanese refer to each other by their surnames, is that correct?" The class looked just as intrigued as the teacher, no signs of bad intentions. It was a good thing, he supposed. "Would you prefer it if I called you Kasamatsu instead?"

Hiding his slight wince at the pronunciation, he nodded, not sure how he should respond. If he was a bit more confident in his English he would have gave a little background on Japanese culture, mainly the respectful aspect.

The rest of the class was spent with the teacher and the class discussing the topics they were going to cover as well as the books they were going to read. He understood bits and pieces, but soon, everything was so overwhelmingly fast, it gave him a headache. Kasamatsu decided it would do more harm than good and zoned out, giving up trying to understand what was going on, staring at his timetable, at his teacher's name, Jane Kotter Richman, printed neatly on the paper.

In Japan, Kasamatsu was actually quite decent in English, only surpassed by his math, and thanks to a certain squinty-eyed bastard, if he tried hard enough, he could actually pronounce the 'r' and 'l'. Besides, immigration wouldn't have been a choice if his English wasn't that good in the first place. Yet as good as he was, it was only relative to his environment, and that was where everyone more or less sucked at English. Here though, he felt as if his skills were of no use, and they may as well be, compared to native speakers.

He felt a bit better when he remembered that he didn't have to take a French or Spanish course to graduate. No words could do justice to the indescribable relief he felt when his parents found a school that allows a Japanese credit from a written exam to replace his compulsory second language credit.

The next period shouldn't be so bad. The language barrier wouldn't much of an impact when playing music, except for maybe certain vocabulary. He didn't have his guitar with him, but then again, it looked like only a few in his class brought their own, the rest waiting to sign out instruments.

The teacher looked asian but spoke English quiet fluently. He glanced at his timetable, then rubbed his eyes and looked again.

Shiru Hirahoto.

Kasamatsu stared until the name grew fuzzy. He blinked and it snapped back into focus, the same name. Was he hallucinating?

"Kasamatsu."

Said teen snapped his head up to look at the teacher, bewildered. He noted that he was addressed by his last name. A hurried look around the room revealed that others were in their own social circles, chatting. When did that happen?

"A word with you please." Hirahoto spoke in Japanese.

Wordlessly, he followed him, a little apprehensive. He didn't know why he was so surprised, after all, Canada was known for it's multiculturalism. Maybe it was the incredibly long time (two weeks) spent hearing just English – with exception to his family of course.

They moved to a quieter place in the room. Hirahoto turned to the teen and spoke kindly. Everyone is kinder than I expected. "Did you understand what I was saying to the class?"

"My apologies, sensei, but I did not."

His sensei gave a reassuring smile and filled him in on the course expectations, what they were to expect and what he was to expect from them. The man spoke with a mixture of the two languages, mostly Japanese though and occasionally giving the English translation for a Japanese word. The conversation then moved on to the instrument Kasamatsu played.

"I can read music in all clefs" he said with a hint of pride "and I play the guitar."

"By all clefs you mean everything from soprano clefs to the sub-bass clef?" The teacher looked impressed.

Kasamatsu nodded. "It helps with transposing. It's not something that came really easy though, but I guess easier than most."

"I'll say. What guitars do you mainly play?"

"Depends on the song really."

They spent the rest of the class conversing easily. Kasamatsu found it easy to talk Hirahoto. The teacher was able to get him to open up about his feelings on music, something he was passionate about – after basketball, of course. He found himself liking him more and more. Maybe today won't be awful.

Out of nowhere, the bell rang signaling the start of lunch. Hirahoto turned away from the chat for a bit to shout over the noise at the class. "If you haven't done so already, indicate your instrument on the sign up sheet at my desk, we'll be signing out books and instruments tomorrow. Have a nice day."

He turned to Kasamatsu. "It was nice to meet you."

The teen nodded and bowed. "Likewise. Have a nice day, sensei."

The brunet hurried over to the sign up sheet mentioned and quickly filled out the information required. He then began the trek back to his locker to retrieve his lunch, quickly checking his timetable for his third class.

Thoughtfully twirling the combination to open his locker, he grabbed his bento box and instinctively turned around to complain to Kobori about Moriyama's slowness before stopping himself.

You aren't in Japan anymore. Get over it and move on.

Yet he pulled out his phone anyways and stared at it for a few minutes. Japan is around half a day or more ahead. They would be sleeping by now. I would be sleeping when they have lunch.

Kasamatsu heaved a sigh and made his way to the cafeteria before changing his mind - it was way too noisy for his taste. He had an urge to go to the roof, where he normally ate before remembering again that the roof wasn't open to students. It wasn't even an area that could be used. He had to remind himself that people here weren't as concerned as the Japanese about space efficiency. He chose outside instead, deciding it was close enough.

There weren't as many people outside but he wasn't entirely alone either. It didn't make him feel any less lonely as he became conscious of the fact that he was the only one eating alone.

The teen almost laughed when he realized that he chose a patch of grass several strides from the school's outdoor basketball courts. Taking out his lunch and chopsticks and settling in the patch, he observed a group of tall teens, lazily playing basketball. A lump formed in his throat. Kasamatsu swallowed and his already dull appetite disappeared.

He ate, not really tasting his lunch. His blue-gray eyes found themselves on the group once again, and his stomach lurched, not with a sickening feeling, but with an excitement that was almost frightening.

Staring at his half eaten lunch, there was a sudden light pressure on his right thigh. Looking up, there was a tall boy, sheepishly grinning and looking expectantly at the ball next to him. Kasamatsu blinked.

Should I? I am getting cold...

The teen stood awkwardly, waiting for Kasamatsu to make a move.

Fuck it.

He packed up the remains of his lunch. Grabbing the ball, he leapt up to his feet and turned to the waiting figure, calm but nervous. By now, the rest of the group had meandered over to see what was taking so long. All of them are considerably taller than me. Stupid genes.

Before he could change his mind he blurted out, "May I join?"

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 _* triple w's and the htt thing : / / 2011/02/23/yoroshiku-onegaishimasu-meaning/_

 _ **AN: Stay tuned to see what happens next! I'd say if things go well for me you can expect chapter 3 next week. Review and there's a possibility that it'll take less time! It will also helps with my problem.**_

 _ **Until next time~ =(^. .^)=**_


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